Abstract

No matter what it is applied to —in a stunning turn, a complicated motif, a very fast solo, a dangerous acrobatic move, a machine that is particularly good at performing certain operations—, virtuosity evokes a kind of empowerment and self-celebration of technique, while also to some extent being the sublimation or surpassing of this. Taking examples from worlds that are rarely confronted, this issue sets out to show how the “facts of virtuosity” enable us to think differently about the relationship between art and technique.